


Living Far Away

by rippergiles



Category: Taskmaster (UK TV) RPF
Genre: Camping, M/M, Pining, Sharing a Bed
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-03-16
Updated: 2021-03-16
Packaged: 2021-03-24 11:08:31
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,490
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/30071343
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/rippergiles/pseuds/rippergiles
Summary: Greg had asked Alex if he wanted to get out of town for a few days, and Alex hadn’t hesitated at the chance.
Relationships: Greg Davies/Alex Horne, background Alex Horne/Rachel Horne - Relationship
Comments: 13
Kudos: 22





	Living Far Away

**Author's Note:**

> Both Greg and Alex have brought this trip up and I haven't been able to stop thinking about it.  
> This story references the COVID lockdowns in the UK. Tried to avoid the pandemic itself because I think we've all had enough experience with that, but be aware if you continue reading.
> 
> Unbeta'd, so please tell me if you spy an error. Thanks to [everyshadeofwrong](https://archiveofourown.org/users/everyshadeofwrong) for being my perpetual Taskmaster pal and letting me bounce ideas off of them.

Alex drummed his fingers on his already-bouncing knee. He pulled his phone out again, confirming the lack of messages on the screen. He could easily call, but something stopped his finger from hitting the contact. 

They’d talked more days than not in the last couple months, the reasons they found to call each other getting sillier and sillier as the lockdown wore on. Alex had kept busy for the most part, but he knew Greg was getting antsy, cooped up alone. The moment restrictions had lifted, Greg had asked Alex if he wanted to get out of town for a few days, and Alex hadn’t hesitated at the chance.

“He’ll be here soon,” Rachel spoke up from behind him, making Alex jump. “Probably just got held up leaving the city.”

Alex relaxed and smiled as she ran her fingers down the back of his head. “You’re sure you’ll be okay without me for a few days?”

“We’ll be great,” she assured him. “God knows we could all use a break from each other. And I know you miss your friends. And Greg.”

He frowned. “Greg’s my friend.”

Rachel gave him an amused sort of look. “Of course he is, love. But it’s different with him, isn’t it?”

Alex looked at her for a moment, trying to gauge her meaning. He opened his mouth to reply, but their doorbell went off, cutting him off and triggering a bark from the other side of the house.

Rachel walked around the couch and had nearly reached the entrance when Loky skidded into the room. She opened the door to reveal Greg, his head nearly brushing the frame as the dog jumped up to greet him. Alex stood and tried to beckon her back, but Greg was affectionately ruffling her fur as she pawed at his legs.

“Hello, beautiful,” he said to the dog, then raised his eyes to meet Rachel’s. “Hi Rach.”

“I knew when we got her I’d end up upstaged,” Rachel laughed. “Do you want to come in for a few before you head out, have a coffee?”

“Better not.” Greg looked apologetic. “I’d like us to get there and get set up before it gets too dark out.”

Rachel shrugged and doubled back to Alex as he was picking up his duffel bag. “See you in a few days, darling.”

“I’ll miss you.”

“I doubt that,” she said, casting a glance back at Greg. “I’m sure there’ll be plenty of entertainment.”

* * *

The evening sky was beautiful as the camper van exited the motorway onto a more rural route. Golden light streamed through the windows, Greg’s glasses casting shadows down his cheekbones.

The ride had been mostly quiet, each of them having little in the way of life updates since the world had been shut down. Occasionally Alex would glance over and catch Greg smiling, though he couldn’t guess at what caused it. Being in each other’s company again was comforting. Weight seemed to lift from Alex’s shoulders with every kilometer passed. 

By the time the van had pulled into the campsite, the creatures around them seemed to be settling in for the night. As Alex stepped out, stretching his legs, he could hear the quiet chirps of wrens and sparrows returning to the nests above them.

Greg lumbered out of the driver’s seat and began circling the van, taking in their surroundings. He took a deep breath in before sighing contentedly. “This’ll do nicely. There’s some wood in the back, I’ll get a fire going if you unload it for me.”

Alex nodded and went to find it. By the time he’d hoisted a few pieces and come back, Greg had used some stones to create a rudimentary fire pit in one of the patches without grass.

“Is this...allowed?” Alex asked. The one thing he didn’t want from this weekend was to be the cause of a rampaging fire.  
  
“You worry too much,” was Greg’s only reply as he took three logs from Alex’s arms and propped them against each other. Alex had always taken the other man as fundamentally a city dweller, and it was unexpected to see him at peace in the middle of nowhere, starting a fire with relative ease. Spark turned into flame, and Greg stood from his crouching position and gestured Alex back toward the van.

Greg opened the side door and hoisted himself up. He was nearly bent double inside, rummaging around until two folding chairs and a cooler appeared as he passed them back to Alex. 

“Thanks,” Alex told him. “When did you get the van, anyway?”

“Couple of years ago,” Greg said, emerging again. “Got my manager to drive me around in it for a tour.”  
  
Alex peered inside. “Roomy.”

Greg laughed. “I know it isn’t, but it’s better than an economy sedan day after day when you’re my size. Mostly just the bed and the bench, but not bad for a kip on the road.”

Alex had failed to realise until that moment the lack of places for him to sleep. “Did you bring, uh, a tent?”

“No?” Greg frowned. “What do you think the van is for?”

“Right…” He decided to drop the subject and hauled the chairs over to the fire, leaving the cooler for Greg.  
  
When they’d propped the canvas chairs up and sank into them, Greg passed a beer over to Alex, twisting the top off for him. “Cheers.”  
  
Alex lifted the bottle to Greg and brought it to his lips, the crisp ale coating his throat in refreshment. He patted the arm of the chair. “A bit different than the thrones, these.”  
  
Greg laughed at that, and Alex’s face split into a grin.  
  
“But I don’t mind it.”  
  
  


* * *

Their normal topics of conversation exhausted, silence had surrounded them for a while, broken only by the crackling fire and the occasional sounds of sipping beers, whose bottles had piled up between their chairs. The lack of other people around was nothing new as of late, but this was different. No work emails, no Zoom cocktails, no struggling through lesson plans. A contentedness settled in Alex’s chest like he hadn’t felt in weeks.  
  
“This is nice,” Alex said. “We never get to just hang out outside of work.”  
  
“I invite you round all the time!” Greg retorted. “I’d come to assume you’d just had enough of me.”

“Never,” Alex laughed, though he realised he meant it. He and Greg were different in many ways, but they complemented each other well, and Alex found himself wanting to please and impress him more and more even outside of the assistant role. His brain supplied again what Rachel had said earlier. _It’s different with him, isn’t it?_

“This whole lockdown thing,” Greg said slowly, each word drawn out and ever so slightly slurred. “Being stuck at home alone for so long made me realise, I guess, what’s really important in my life.”

Alex felt the hair on the back of his neck prickle. “Yeah?”

“I missed being able to see my family, but I’m used to going months between visits so that wasn’t so different than usual. Plus my nieces are all tech savvy and had me video chatting to them at least once a week anyway.” He paused. “I missed work more than I thought I would. Being on set, making people laugh. Seeing you.”

Alex felt a balloon inflate somewhere around his navel. This was the most genuine he’d ever heard Greg, and he wasn’t sure what to make of it. No audience to impress, no facade to keep up. It was just the two of them here.

“I missed work too. I’ll be glad when we can get back to shooting.”

It was hard to determine what exactly shifted in Greg’s face in the light from the glowing embers, but it seemed to pinch a little at Alex’s reply. He wondered if he’d said something wrong as Greg leaned forward and pushed at the remains of the fire with a stick. Alex opened his mouth to ask if something was wrong, but Greg beat him to speaking.

“We should probably get some sleep.”

“Oh. Okay.”

Greg pushed himself out of the chair and poured some of the melted ice from the cooler to put out the last flames of the fire. The embers smoked for a moment and then extinguished. He left, opening the camper door and climbing in without a word.

Alex collected their empty bottles and carried them to a trash bag they’d set out. He circled to the passenger seat to grab his duffel bag, pulling some sweatpants out of it. He could see the shadow of Greg changing inside, so tried to swap them with his jeans quickly, one hand balancing on the side mirror. He kicked off his shoes and picked them up as he reached the door to the back.

He glanced inside again, then entered, settling on the too-small bench opposite the bed. Alex laid on his side and pulled his knees to his chest, his feet still hanging off the end as the rubbery upholstering whined under him.  
  
A sigh came from the bed. “Don’t be ridiculous, Alex.”

He poked his head up to peer at the Greg-shaped lump in the dark, which was turning on its side. “What?”

“There’s room here for both of us,” Greg said. “I know it’s not ideal, but it’s better than that hellish thing.”

“I can, erm, I can lay the seats in the front down and sleep there.”

“Alex.”

“It’ll be less noisy than th—”

“ _Alex_. Get in the bed.”

Alex stood up slowly but still managed to hit his head on the top of the van. “Are you sure?”

“Don’t worry, I won’t make a move on you.”

Alex laughed nervously, but the weird shift in his stomach was an unexpected sensation. It felt almost like disappointment. He’d seen Greg flirt with men and women at parties and pubs, but Alex was never sure if it was all part of some act like the one they put on for Taskmaster, or if Greg was really interested in those other people.  
  
He settled in gingerly on the edge of the bed, facing away from Greg, keeping the gulf between them as wide as possible without falling off.

“Night, then,” Alex mumbled.

“Goodnight.”

Alex closed his eyes, but he still felt wide awake. This was weird, sharing a bed with someone new, but he’d shared plenty with his band mates on tours and not felt this uneasy. Something about being out here alone, out here with Greg. Of course the relationship between them was played up for the show, but Alex had rarely let himself admit how much he enjoyed the dynamic for real. Being bossed around, demeaned, humiliated…it was all for the laughs, but it didn’t hurt that he got a rush of adrenaline every time they took it to a new level. He realised now, being this close to Greg, that he’d been silently disappointed when the network had discussed the new safety measures in place to maintain distance between them. 

But this wasn’t the show. This was just them, no script, no dynamic to follow. Just two friends in a camper van in the countryside. He tried again to relax, but found himself wondering what was going through Greg’s mind, achingly close to his own but impenetrable as ever.  
  
After what felt like ages, Greg’s snores started filling the space, and Alex let them become static noise in his brain, his muscles untensing one by one as he slowly drifted off to sleep.  
  
  


* * *

  
  
Alex woke up to golden sun streaming through the van’s windows, nearly blinding him. The inside was hot and he felt sticky with sweat before he realised the extra weight now settled around his body. Greg’s arm was slung around his middle, a leg inserted between Alex’s feet, his stomach pressed against his back, Greg’s slow breaths blowing the hairs on the side of Alex’s neck. They’d gotten tangled up together sometime in the night. 

This would be decidedly awkward if Greg woke up to find them undeniably spooning, so Alex shifted slightly to try to loosen himself from Greg’s limbs. The snores stopped abruptly and Alex froze, but Greg only smacked his lips a few times and seemed to still be unconscious. His arm shifted back and Alex felt Greg’s large hand suddenly gripping his side, pulling them flush again. And— _oh_.

Heat coiled in Alex’s stomach as he felt the stiffness now pressed at the top of his arse cheeks. He could hear blood rushing in his ears as his heart began thudding in his chest loud enough to wake the dead.

And yet, Greg was still asleep, the clumsy movements as he groped at Alex’s hip and pushed his erection against Alex’s backside only pointing to one kind of dream being had. 

Alex panicked, unsure if to wake Greg up to stop him, which would lead to a mortifying conversation, or let him continue and pray he didn’t connect the dots when he woke up with a mess in his pants.

“Greg,” he whispered, unsure what he could possibly say if and when Greg did wake up. Before he could form any other words, Greg’s mouth opened against Alex’s ear and stopped him.

“Alex…” the other man moaned, voice thick with sleep but unmistakably saying his name.

That flipped a switch somewhere inside him, and Alex let out a tiny moan before he could stop himself. The hand on his hip stilled, and he could feel the rest of Greg’s body jerk away from him.

“ _Shit_ ,” Greg said, suddenly awake and aware and with more panic than Alex had ever heard in his voice. “Alex I’m so—I’m so sorry—”

Alex discovered he hadn’t breathed for several long moments. “It’s okay— really—” he sputtered, turning to face Greg, whose face was a picture of utter distress.

“Shit,” Greg repeated, and then the words began spilling out of him, “ _Fuck_. I just, I wanted to spend time with you out here, just us, but I knew this was a mistake, you’re married but I can’t—”

Before he really knew what he was doing, because all he wanted now was to stop Greg spiraling, Alex was kissing him. Not the timid, tender kind of kiss they’d shared on the show, or the over-the-top display Greg had lead in the BAFTA audience, but something else entirely. Alex kissed him hard, taking control in a way he rarely did until he felt a bit of Greg’s tension dissipate under his lips.  
  
They broke apart, the shock in Greg’s expression sliding a tiny bit into something else. “What are you doing?”

“What am _I_ doing?” Alex hissed, his voice emerging an octave higher than he expected. He took a deep breath, then continued. “Say what you were saying before, but slower, please.”

Greg’s face hardened. “It doesn’t matter. Get up, get dressed, we can just go home.”

“Please, Greg,” He forced himself to meet Greg’s eyes as he said it. “I want to know.”

Greg stared at him for a moment. “I don’t want to ruin—”

“You’re not going to ruin anything.” Alex reached down and found Greg’s hand, squeezing it. “Promise.”

“Then can we just skip it? I don’t have the brain power after waking up like this to talk about...whatever this is. Can I just…”

“You can do whatever you want, Greg. Or whatever you need.”

There was an excruciating pause before Greg took Alex’s face in his hands and kissed him again, tentative at first then deepening, breaching Alex’s lips with his tongue. Alex reciprocated as he felt hands leave his face and travel down his sides, lifting his shirt and digging into his back as Greg pulled them together. Alex was used to personal space, but Greg seemed to see any place where they weren’t touching as a challenge. The larger man enveloped him with his limbs as they kissed, and when Greg’s erection brushed against the growing presence below Alex’s waist, he whined.

Greg smiled against his lips, moving one of his hands to rub Alex through his pajamas. Alex gasped and gripped Greg’s arm, thrusting forward against his hand. 

“Do you—” Alex gasped, “do you have, er, materials?”

A burst of laughter roared out of Greg. “ _Materials_? Alex, we’re groping each other like a couple of horny teenagers, but surely you can speak like an adult for a minute.”

Alex’s face burned. “I mean, uh, lubricant, condoms, you know…”

Greg gave a wistful smile. “I didn’t exactly expect to need them.” He toyed with Alex’s waistband, dipping his fingers in and tracing the line of Alex’s hip. “Next time?”

Alex’s eyes widened, and his heart was in his ears again, drowning out all other thought. He nodded. “Next time.”

Greg’s hand dove in and grasped Alex’s cock, not firmly enough to hurt, but enough to claim it, as if to remind him who he belonged to. Being given permission by Alex seemed to shift something in Greg, all traces of anxiety about the two of them gone, ready to fully assume the persona he inhabited on the show.

“Tell me, Alex.” His voice was a low growl as he began to move slowly up Alex’s shaft. “I’ve always wondered how much you get off on it. The act.”

Alex groaned at the large hand surrounding him, moving enough to give torturous sensations but nothing more. “I didn’t. Or, I mean, it didn’t start that way.”

“Go on.”

“We went on— _god, please_ — we went on building up this whole thing between us and I guess,” Alex moaned as Greg thumbed over the head of his cock, dragging tiny drops of precome back down.

“You guess?”

“The lines blurred,” he whispered. “Between what I was doing for laughs and what I was doing because I liked it.”

“That’s every comedian, mate,” Greg said, somehow casual despite speeding up his movements and making Alex bite his lip. “Basket cases, the lot of us.”

“Is now the time,” Alex moaned as Greg pumped him quickly, “for psychoanalysis?”

Greg’s movements stopped abruptly. “Do you have a problem, Alex?”

Alex gasped out. “No, please…”

“No, please, what?”

“No, please, _sir_.”

Greg resumed pushing him closer to the edge. "That's better."  
  
“I’m gonna—please—” Alex whined as his eyes squeezed shut.  
  
“Ah-ah-ah,” warned Greg. “Look at me. And don’t stop.”  
  
Alex opened his eyes as Greg’s hand stilled on him, holding his cock tight but not providing any friction. He looked at Greg pleadingly but then felt Greg shift his other hand to himself, eyes fluttering slightly but then re-training on Alex’s as he slid a hand up and down his own shaft. Their gazes remained locked even as Greg’s breathing became unsteady. A slight curl lifted the side of his mouth as he began to move both hands together, testing Alex’s willpower against closing his eyes. Their cocks brushed together as Greg moved them, the extra sensation on the head shooting to Alex’s core and causing him to whimper.  
  
Greg leaned in, breath hot against Alex’s face, their eyes inches from each other. “Are you ready to come for me?”  
  
“Yes...please.”  
  
The motions sped up, Alex losing any idea what the rest of his body was doing as all his focus was used to keep his eyes on Greg. The coil in his gut twisted tight, tight, tighter, and then released, flooding all his senses as he came. He didn’t know what noise either of them made when Greg followed after him, his body going stiff next to Alex’s as his mouth fell open in a gasp.  
  
  


* * *

“I seem to remember being told you _weren’t_ going to make a move on me.”

Greg rolled his eyes, shoving Alex lightly, though he barely budged in response. Their bodies were tangled together again, Greg’s arm cradling Alex’s shoulders and their feet intertwined under the covers, two men in foggy afterglow. It seemed safer now to at least tiptoe in the neighbourhood of what Greg had been trying to say.

“Do _you_ get off on it?” Alex asked quietly. 

Greg arched an eyebrow at him. “I think we’ve both seen the answer to that.”

“Well, yeah,” Alex chuckled, but felt some relief in the casual confirmation all the same. “I just mean…are you okay? Are we okay?”

“I’m not the one who’s married,” Greg said, reservation creeping back into his voice. “That’s something you’re gonna have to deal with.”

“I think she knows,” Alex replied. “I mean, everything happened pretty quickly just now, but...we’ll talk when I’m home. She adores you, anyway. Things will be okay.”

“Good,” Greg said. “I don’t know what I’d do if we had to...you know, go back.”

“Things weren’t exactly bad off,” Alex protested, then smiled. “But this is nice.”  
  
Greg kissed Alex gently on the temple. “Yes, it is.”


End file.
